As some of you are aware of I have been working on a now clarified 1986 1wg fzr400 and I have a question and hopefully someone can give me a knowledgeable answer I have included a pic of the front cowling and some of you will notice the factory drilled holes and this is what triggers the thought bubble. Ever since I have owned this bike I have spent countless hours online searching for information on this bike and everyone of the 1wg's that I have found bar 3 (including mine) all have a smooth fairing missing the holes............so whats with the holes? I have seen 1 1wg in africa with the same holes and 1 in England somewhere and then mine and thats about it and I know its factory fairing as it is stamped 1wg blah blah. So would anyone be able to answer this for me please as it has taken too much of my time already trying to figure it out and I would like to move on with more important questions then "Why does my cowling have holes lol"
See now initially I thought that too or it was done for factory race purpose built models but then I figured why would they go as far as putting the holes in and not blank off the lights if it were for the racing and the side covers also have rubber seals on either side of the air ducts for the cooling so I have no idea
@maelstrom , I did look at the FZR400 model history, none of the pics I found had vented fairings, maybe its a case of when I grow up, I want to be a Honda 900 ?
Seen it done on race bikes under certain conditions ..... wind gusts , heat build up , seagull bait maybe the POs were boy racers
Just went down to double check and all the entry angles seem to be the same and the paint seems to match as well but thats not to say that P.O didnt drill and touch up. From what I was informed of from P.O he inherited the bike from his dad sometime before I got it and his father had parked it in his shed for about 10 years (mind you when I got my hands on it the build up of crap and dust etc would suggest the same). If memory serves correct.........fingers crossed here...........His father had it imported through southside brisbane wreckers in order to race it back in the day but never did get around to it, he then inherited it but could never get it to run. I know it can be real hard from what I have heard but is there anyway that I would be able to find out anymore of the history of this bike as they even listed the manufacture date as a 1994 due to that being the year they imported it, but I have researched the break down of the vin and I know it is a 1wg.
Here are a couple of questions... Is the fuel tank cover plactic or shaped Aluminium. Is the front of it secured with two bolts or has it a rubber quick release. Is the rear shock still standard if so does it have a remote adjuster mounted in the RH rear subframe? Is the bike fitted with rear passinger foot rest? Is the read subframe aluminum or steel.
Plastic old and brittle 2 bolts Standard shock no remote OEM passenger footrests are on and came with the bike Subframe is steel
Well that discounts one theory. If the bike had those features it would most likely have been an SP which were widely used in Japan for an endurence racing series. You could have expected good quailty fairing modifications and of course the use of lights... Sadly your bike shows standard 1WG features only but i suspect has had fairing modification that were fashionable.. Sorry i cant be any more help.
As a fellow FZR 400 Owner, from what I understand those are NOT 'factory' holes - all the 1WG fairings I have ever seen are solid fairings, I feel like this particular one has been modified at one point or another for racing, which I am told a lot of the 400's were But I don't think they hurt having them here - just makes it a bit unique haha
Yeah man I thought about the SP theory but was sadly mistaken.........would have been real nice to own an SP. Yeah mate I didnt think they would have built mine as a one off and only modded the front cowling and as mentioned alittle before I had only seen another 2 or so done like this but thought I would put it out there and see if anyone else might have had a better source of knowledge then what goes though my head
I have previously owner two 1WG 2TK SP both had been slightly modified and I assumed because at some point both had seen some track usage. There it is not unreasonable to assume that the mods you have to your fairing may have been done due to some track use or in the pursuit of fashion. Good luck with the bike they are underated.
It doesn't answer why you've got holes, but if looking at why did the original fireblade had fairing holes, Tadao Baba says on interview that it was just aesthetics for him: And those holes you drilled into the upper fairing - they didn’t really do anything, did they? Of course they did, haha! At the time Honda NSR race machines had holes in their fairings. Some say they worked and helped the machine turn quickly. On my Fireblade it just looked right. The holes that did work were on the front fender on later models. We made holes there for air to pass through and almost ‘suck’ the front wheel to the ground. Read more: http://www.visordown.com/interviews/tadao-baba---father-of-the-fireblade/6428.html#ixzz41wBTPOLo I think that's a bit weak. More likely is that it was on the NSR as a result of wind tunnel testing. Holes like this would cause a smooth laminar boundary layer of air to turn turbulent, and therefore stay "attached" for longer, possibly onto the riders arms, body, and round his back instead of detaching at the fairing trailing edge. This would mean a much smaller wake, and therefore less drag. Same reason golf balls have dimples. Don't tape them up in case it makes you slower!!